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MAIREARAD GREEN & MIKE VASS - A Day A Month

MAIREARAD GREEN & MIKE VASS - A Day A Month
Buie Records BUIECD04

The product of a plan to play and compose tunes together, this recording actually contains only traditional tunes which have stood the test of time - although there are several here which are rarely heard. While it might have been intoxicating to taste freshly distilled drops on their first appearance, and to guess which would pass into the session repertoire along with this pair's previous compositions such as Vass' Cavers Of Kirkcudbright, and which were destined to evaporate like the angels' share, that is sadly not to be: A Day A Month applies the considerable talents of Green and Vass on fiddle, guitar and accordion to classics such as Mrs Grant's Of Bught, Catch And Kiss The Romp, Cawdor Fair and Sheep Shanks. Alright, none of these is probably in the top 100 Scottish session tunes, or possibly even the top 1000, but they are all fine old tunes brought lovingly out of semi-retirement here.

This is what happens when you leave old music collections lying about where musicians can find them, and it's great to know that the Gesto Collection and the Moidart Collection and others can still inspire new recordings. Unregarded melodies like Ille Bhig and Sgiandubh are nicely packaged for a new audience, great tune titles including Whisky Welcome Back Again and the rare Scottish 3/2 tune, Tha'm Buntàta Mòr, raise all sorts of interesting questions, and there are even some slow airs for the more lyrically inclined. Miss Isabella Reid's Reel, The Earl Of Hyndford, the very versatile Miss Muir MacKenzie - these are all great tunes worth hearing, worth learning, worth playing, and I look forward to encountering them in sessions far and wide as a direct result of Vass and Green's A Day A Month.

www.mairearadgreen.co.uk

www.mikevass.com

Alex Monaghan


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This album was reviewed in Issue 121 of The Living Tradition magazine.